The major bottlenecks for solar PV scale-up are projected to center on materials scarcity. Copper and tin are the most critical materials and will constitute the main bottleneck of solar PV development in most scenarios. However, unlocks are available, as supply could ramp up (especially for tin).
At least 3 000 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power projects, of which 1 500 GW are in advanced stages, are waiting in grid connection queues – equivalent to five times the amount of solar PV and wind capacity added in 2022. This shows grids are becoming a bottleneck for transitions to net zero emissions.
Energy companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in wind farms, solar arrays and batteries, spurred on by federal tax breaks and falling costs. But these projects face a severe bottleneck: It is getting harder and taking longer to connect new power plants to the power lines that carry electricity to homes and businesses.
Grid Bottlenecks on the Way in Europe? A new analysis by the energy think tank Ember has found that several countries in Europe could soon face bottlenecks in their national transmission energy grids, as more solar and wind power will be generated than these networks have capacity for.
Low-carbon energy technologies are growing, but bottlenecks could slow the energy transition at a time when the rollout of clean technologies needs to accelerate.
In our energy transition scenario that would achieve existing climate commitments, two-thirds of the potential bottlenecks assessed run a risk of delaying the path to net-zero commitments. Around a quarter of these potential bottlenecks are classified as high risk, without unlocks identified to date.